Despite slow start, Drew’s still the man at short

Drew came into Tuesday night’s game against the Athletics with four hits in 33 at-bats — or one fewer than his early-season replacement, Jose Iglesias, had in the first two contests of the season.

So why are the Red Sox not even considering a switch at short back to Iglesias?

The answer has to do with track records.

In Drew’s four full major-league seasons — from 2007 to 2010 with the Diamondbacks — he was one of the most productive everyday shortstops in baseball. During that stretch he hit .268 with a .330 on-base percentage and 60 home runs.

Fans in New England might not know how good Drew can be, but a few coaches in the Oakland dugout do.

Athletics manager Bob Melvin and bench coach Chip Hale have each known Drew since his time coming up through the Diamondbacks system, and they were reunited with the shortstop for a brief stint last season.

Melvin was Drew’s manager in Arizona from 2007 to 2009.

“He’s a good everyday shortstop that does everything. He can hit, he can field,” Melvin said. “If he’s healthy, he’s a guy you run out there and play every day.”

Hale managed Drew at Triple-A Tucson before serving as his third base coach with the Diamondbacks for three seasons.

While acknowledging Drew’s current struggles, Hale attributed a lot of that to an abbreviated spring training for the shortstop.

“Coming out with a tough injury in spring training and starting on the concussion list, that’s a tough thing for him,” Hale said. “He’s the type of guy, when he goes home in the winter, he likes to hunt and take care of his land. Spring training is important for him. We always used to joke that he came to spring training in Arizona, it was old-school: He got in shape to play baseball and went into the season ready to go.

“When he gets any setbacks in spring training, it’s hard for him. I know, watching him from the side, he had some good swings against us. I’m sure that’s going to carry over and he’s just going to get better and better.”

Hale thinks Drew made a smart move coming to Fenway Park.

“The offensive part of the game, as long as he gets consistent at-bats this season, you’ll see him really flourish,” he said. “He’ll start using the other side of the field again. When I had him as a youngster, he had power to all fields. I think you’ll start seeing him hit the ball off that wall.

“He was always one of those guys that could hit second or third in the order for us, an on-base guy with a great eye. That part of it he hasn’t lost. I think it’s just a matter of getting consistent at-bats again and his offense will come back to where I believe he’s a consistent .300 hitter.”

Both Hale and Melvin were impressed with how healthy Drew looks. Melvin made that determination off of one night Monday, and one play in particular.

“He made a nice play in the hole yesterday where he threw out Coco [Crisp], which isn’t easy to do, going to his right. That means it looks like he’s fully healthy planting on that,” Melvin said. “He appears to not be thinking about it. I think at times last year he was thinking about it a little bit. He seems to be past that.”

“His range, to me, doesn’t look like he’s lost anything. Some people think with the ankle that maybe he’s lost a step,” Hale said. “I don’t think so at all. I see him making the plays, being dependable as a defender.”

At this point, Boston is relying more on that long track record of success Drew has shown in the past over the brief spurt of production Iglesias had the first two weeks of the year. The ceiling for an offense with Drew’s production from shortstop is higher than it is with Iglesias.

“When he’s playing at the top of his game and playing well,” Melvin said, “he’s one of the elite shortstops.”